Chapter 39: Washing Dishes
In the bright and tidy room, there are two bowls of steaming beef noodles on the wooden dining table, and two people sitting opposite each other.

This should have been a warm and beautiful picture, but the atmosphere at the table was a little too quiet at the moment.

Chen Mo and Xu Hongdou just looked at each other with a smile. If it weren't for the steam rising and dissipating from the beef noodles in front of them, they would have thought that time had stopped.

"Don't you have anything to explain?" Xu Hongdou asked with a smile, breaking the eerie silence.

"Then you have nothing to explain?" Chen Mo raised his eyebrows.

"Is it okay if I just like watching the lucky cat eat?" Xu Hongdou asked back.

"I'll buy one tomorrow and put it on the dining table." Chen Mo nodded.

"I'm not coming to your house for dinner." Xu Hongdou tilted her head in confusion.

"Buy two and put one at the entrance so you can see it as soon as you enter the house." Chen Mo nodded again.

"I said: I won't come to your house to eat." Xu Hongdou stared at Chen Mo and said word by word.

"Buy another one and put it in the living room. When you sit on the sofa waiting for dinner, it can whet your appetite in advance." Chen Mo said after thinking for a while.

"Hey, I noticed that you're quite good at talking to yourself, huh?" Xu Hongdou raised her chin and said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well, that's not good. So what style and shape of lucky cat do you like?" Chen Mo frowned and nodded, and asked in an "understanding" tone.

"Don't you understand what I'm saying?" Xu Hongdou was so angry that she laughed.

"I understand what Auntie is saying." Chen Mo answered calmly.

"Eat!" Xu Hongdou glared at Chen Mo fiercely, picked up the beef with chopsticks and dipped it in chili pepper.

"Let's eat." Chen Mo also picked up the chopsticks and nodded.

"When you finish eating, remember to send me Auntie's WeChat. Auntie may not know how to add a friend, so it's more convenient for me to add Auntie."

"Cough~ cough~" Xu Hongdou didn't know whether she was choked by the chili or angry at Chen Mo's words.

"Slow down." Chen Mo quickly took out two tissues and handed them to Xu Hongdou.

"Thank you~ cough~" Xu Hongdou took it, but started coughing again before she finished her words.

Chen Mo subconsciously got up and walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of mineral water, paused for a moment, put it back, opened the cabinet next to him and took out a bottle of room temperature water.

"Come, drink some water and relax." Chen Mo unscrewed the water and handed it to Xu Hongdou.

Xu Hongdou took the water and drank a few sips.

"Huh~Thank you." Xu Hongdou said after a pause.

"Again." Chen Mo smiled and shook his head, reaching out to take the water from Xu Hongdou's hands and wring it out.

"I can do it myself." Xu Hongdou said, stretching out her hand.

Chen Mo didn't force it and put the bottle cap in Xu Hongdou's hand. He subconsciously recalled the feeling of holding this hand yesterday, the green fingers and the warm palm.

The road ahead is long and arduous, Chen Mo thought to himself.

"Just because you like spicy food doesn't mean you can eat spicy food. What are you doing with so much chili?"

Chen Mo thought that Xu Hongdou seemed to be like this the last time she ate spicy food, which was both spicy and addictive.

"I like it, why do you care?!" Xu Hongdou's eyes widened suddenly.

"As you wish." Chen Mo spread his hands when he saw Xu Hongdou's stubborn look.

"And if I hadn't been startled by someone's shameless words just now, I wouldn't have been choked by this little chili pepper." Xu Hongdou added.

"Yes, yes, this pepper is not spicy at all." Chen Mo said casually.

"But it was Auntie who asked you to send her my WeChat just now. I didn't think about it. As a junior, shouldn't I take the initiative?"

"I think someone is a weasel paying New Year's greetings to a chicken, and he has no good intentions."

"Hey, what are you saying? Did I poison the food I cooked for you? Don't you have good intentions?" Chen Mo was unhappy.

"Why were you so enthusiastic just now? And you said that I could ask you to help my mom find Nanxing?"

"I'm always like this towards my elders. And Nanxing lives far away, so it's indeed more convenient for Auntie to find me." Chen Mo said "innocently".

"Why am I looking for you? Let me tell you, Nanxing is the love of my life and my best friend." Xu Hongdou said seriously, "No one can replace her."

Chen Mo nodded seriously after hearing this.

Xu Hongdou saw that Chen Mo finally listened and was satisfied as she prepared to continue eating.

Chen Mo asked doubtfully, "But why should I replace Nan Xing? My position doesn't conflict with hers."

"Nanxing is your best friend, I can be your boyfriend"

"Hmm?" Xu Hongdou raised her eyelids.

"Is it not okay for gay besties to be best friends?" Chen Mo suddenly made a 90-degree turn on his words.

"Hey~ Don't disgust me." Xu Hongdou said with a look of disgust.

"Well, this really won't work. Let's not have this kind of relationship." Chen Mo said this to himself, and subconsciously felt uncomfortable with the word.

Chen Mo has no business doing what other people do, but he certainly doesn't want the person he likes to have such an overly intimate relationship with the opposite sex in the future.

Is there pure friendship between men and women?

There should be.

However, most of these relationships can only last until they get married.

Normally speaking, after the two parties get married, this kind of opposite-sex relationship will inevitably fade.

There is certainly no problem for both parties to meet, chat and have a meal normally, but it would be a bit weird if they could still talk about everything and share their worries and joys like they did before marriage.

After all, a man can say that he went to play ball with his friends, surf the Internet, or have a drink, but he can't say that he went to drink with someone else's wife.

A woman can say that she went shopping, had beauty treatments, or watched a movie with her best friends, but she can’t say that she went to the movies with someone else’s husband.

If the two can still maintain this so-called intimate "best friends of the opposite sex" pure friendship before their marriages, well... then we can only say that their respective partners are quite generous.

Hmm, are there really people who can accept that their significant other has a best friend of the opposite sex after marriage?

Can you accept that your wife can say something to another unrelated man that she cannot say to you?

Or your husband can't say things to you, but he says them to another woman who is not related to you?
If both parties have feelings for each other and do not care about each other, then the relationship between husband and wife is truly stronger than gold.

"Forget it, let's just be neighbor friends first. We don't like the trend of having opposite-sex best friends." Chen Mo shook his head.

"By the way, you have a sister?" Chen Mo asked.

"Yes, she is in Shanghai." Xu Hongdou nodded.

"Then why don't you go to Shanghai when your aunt asked you to?"

"I don't want to go."

"Why? Because your university is in the capital, and you have a special affection for the capital?"

"No, it's the same wherever workers are. I can't afford a house whether I'm in Shanghai or the capital. It doesn't matter."

"Is there someone who makes you want to stay in the capital?" Chen Mo felt a little nervous when he asked this question.

"Neither." Xu Hongdou shook her head.

Hearing Xu Hongdou's answer, Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief.

"I thought it was because of Nanxing." Chen Mo said with a relaxed smile. "Nanxing. I guess so." Xu Hongdou thought for a moment and said, "But in fact, even if we are both in the capital, we don't have many opportunities to meet each other in a year."

"Maybe. Only two or three times, or three or four times?" Xu Hongdou recalled, then laughed at herself and shook her head. "It's not much better than the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl."

"You see her so rarely?" Chen Mo was puzzled: "But last time we called Nanxing to eat, she came."

"That's because she happened to have a day off the next day, and..." Xu Hongdou thought of Chen Nanxing's last clamor to help her find out the bottom line and provide protection, and quickly stopped talking.

"Anything else?" Chen Mo asked.

Xu Hongdou quietly changed the subject and explained, "Because Nanxing is doing hotel market research and has to travel frequently. If I were working in Shanghai, maybe we would meet more often."

"Why, aren't you two closer to the capital?" Chen Mo asked curiously.

"It's because we are both in the capital, and we feel it's not too far away. It seems we can see each other anytime we want. On the contrary, we won't go out of our way to see each other if there is nothing else." Xu Hongdou said.

"They say they are all in the capital, but it takes Nanxing three or four hours to come here and back."

"Everyone is tired from work and it's rare for us to have a rest. Who doesn't want to sleep at home until they wake up naturally? Who wants to go through the same hassle of commuting to work?"

"Besides, we usually chat all the time, so since there's nothing special, I just don't feel like making a special trip."

"Then you can see each other often in Shanghai?" Chen Mo asked.

"That's definitely not possible." Xu Hongdou shook her head.

"But if one of us is in the capital and the other is in Shanghai, we will feel that the chances of seeing each other are rare."

"So maybe when she goes to Shanghai on a business trip, we will try every possible way to meet her."

"Your idea is quite novel." Chen Mo said with a smile.

"The main reason is that Nanxing goes to Shanghai on business trips quite often every year, so it is possible that we meet as often as when we are both in the capital," said Xu Hongdou.

"Then I don't understand, why don't you want to go to Shanghai and insist on staying in the capital?" Chen Mo wondered.

"I just don't want to go to Shanghai, I don't have to stay in the capital," said Xu Hongdou.

"You have a bad relationship with your sister?" Chen Mo asked cautiously.

"No, although we often quarrel, my sister still cares about me very much." Xu Hongdou shook her head.

"From what I heard from your aunt's tone, your sister should be doing well in Shanghai." Chen Mo thought for a while and asked.

"My sister is indeed more successful than me. My brother-in-law also has several houses in Shanghai." Xu Hongdou said after finishing her meal and putting down her chopsticks.

Seeing this, Chen Mo handed over the tissue: "If you go to Shanghai, wouldn't it be good for you sisters to support each other and take care of each other?"

Xu Hongdou took the tissue, wiped her mouth and said, "No, if I go to Shanghai, it won't be mutual support, but my sister will unilaterally support me."

"Then she will definitely take care of everything for me."

"It's great to have a sister to take care of me." Chen Mo is an only child, so when he was a child he also thought about what it would be like to have a brother or sister.

"So what do I become? Am I not my sister's vampire?"

"Not really, right? She's your sister, and you're fully capable of supporting yourself. You don't have to rely on your sister for support."

"My sister is already married." Xu Hongdou shook her head. "Even if my brother-in-law doesn't mind, he still has a lot of relatives in Shanghai."

"If people knew that his wife's sister asked him to take care of her, would he take care of his own cousins? Would he be able to refuse?"

"You think far ahead." Chen Mo was a little surprised.

"Every family has the same problem." Xu Hongdou said with a smile.

"That's true." Chen Mo also understood.

No one asks the poor in the downtown area, and the rich has distant relatives in the mountains.

Once you have money, you will have many relatives who are related to you.

If you can help with something within your ability, definitely do so.

Most people certainly know the situation and won't try to curry favor with others just because you have money.

But sometimes there are always one or two people who will take it for granted and make excessive demands.

There is nothing urgent at home, but I still ask for money.

He said he was borrowing it, but you could tell from his look that he had no intention of paying it back.

Now that you have borrowed this one, do you want to borrow the other one?
Once you open a door, everyone will see that you are so easy to lend money to, so they will all come to you to borrow some.

By then, if you don’t lend or lend too little, people will start to make sarcastic remarks:

Some people, once they become rich, no longer recognize their poor relatives.

After making some money, I became a black-hearted person.

There will definitely be a lot of gossip.

In the end, it will be a thankless job. Not only will people not be grateful, but the petty ones will even resent you.

"Okay, let me wash the dishes." Xu Hongdou stood up and said.

"No need, I can do it." Chen Mo wanted to stop him.

"Didn't you just say that we should divide the work?" Xu Hongdou asked.

"Huh?" Chen Mo didn't react for a moment.

"You cook today, so I'll do the dishes."

"So you agree?!" Chen Mo said in surprise.

Xu Hongdou didn't answer, but just cleaned up the dishes for both of them and took them to the kitchen.

This time Chen Mo didn't stop him, nor did he say anything big: From now on, just come here and leave everything to me.

This is not a healthy relationship.

It may seem okay in the short term, and many people with hormones running high may even enjoy it.

But as time goes by, enthusiasm fades, and it is easy for one person to become annoyed and the other to take it for granted, and quarrels and conflicts will follow.

"The gloves are there, and the apron is hanging next to the refrigerator." Chen Mo reminded.

"Okay." Xu Hongdou put on an apron and gloves and washed skillfully.

When the few of them had dinner at Jiang Congwen's place before, they all cleaned up together after the meal.

Chen Mo knew that Xu Hongdou and Chen Nanxing were not the kind of delicate girls who had never been involved in women's affairs.

On the contrary, Jiang Congwen, because Li Jinting took too much care of him in recent years, is now clumsy with some housework.

Xu Hongdou changed into home clothes after returning home just now. She wore a lavender sweater, a pair of beige casual pants, and tied her hair into a cute bun.

Neither of them spoke in the kitchen. There was only the sound of running water and the gentle clinking of dishes and chopsticks.

When Xu Hongdou lowered her head to wash the dishes, her slender, white neck was naturally exposed, with some fine hair sticking out because it was not tied up.

Compared to her usual maturity and intelligence, Xu Hongdou now has a more virtuous and gentle temperament.

Chen Mo leaned against the kitchen door frame, quietly watching the scene in front of him. He felt a sense of beauty in the peaceful years and was unable to bear to make a sound to break the tranquility.

(End of this chapter)